Successful teams can only keep a coaching staff intact for so long. Just ask Alabama about trying to keep a defensive coordinator after multiple national championships.

Now Kirby Smart will see his own defensive coordinator linked to head coaching jobs. According to an ESPN report, Bulldogs DC Mel Tucker is expected to be a candidate for the North Carolina job.

The Tar Heels officially fired Larry Fedora Sunday after seven seasons and a 45-43 record. UNC has went 1-7 in ACC play in back-to-back seasons, but has shown the potential to compete, going to four straight bowl games from 2013-16.

Current ESPN analyst and former North Carolina coach Mack Brown and former LSU offensive coordinator Matt Candada, the current interim head coach at Maryland, are also named among the list of potential candidates in the ESPN report.